Interesting.For the first time in US history, racial and ethnic minorities outnumber its white majority – white births make up fewer than half the children born in the country, according to the US Census Bureau.
The new 2011 census, which was made public on Thursday, reveals non-Hispanic whites accounted for 49.6 per cent of all births in the 12-month period that ended last July.
The minorities – Hispanics, blacks, Asians and those of mixed race – made 50.4 per cent in total, with Hispanics at 26 per cent, blacks 15 per cent, and about 4 per cent Asian. That compares with a 37 per cent ratio in 1990.
The survey however shows births actually have been declining for both whites and minorities, as many women postponed having children during the economic recession.
But the drop since 2008 has been larger for whites, at 11.4 per cent, compared with that of 3.2 per cent for minorities.
Whites still represent the single largest share of all births and will remain a majority for some time. But the fact remains that a younger generation is being born in which minorities are now the majority.
